(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to decorated soap and the method for producing the same. More particularly, the invention relates to decorated soap and its producing method in which a desired pattern of pictures, designs and characters is transferred onto the surface of soap by using a decalcomania, that is, a pattern transfer sheet.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
In the conventional art, the surface of soap is sometimes applied with a desired pattern such as designs and characters for the purposes of advertisement and decoration. The formation of such a pattern has been done through several methods, for example, an embossing method, known direct printing methods such as gravure printing and offset printing and a method to apply an adhesive sheet that has printed patterns.
When the surface of soap is embossed, a desired pattern can clearly be formed on the surface, however, this method is not suitable for coloring the embossed patterns due to its particular process and the formed pattern is liable to disappear during the use of the soap. Therefore, the purpose of pattern formation cannot fully be attained. In the case of the direct printing method, the printed surface is eroded by the alkalinity of soap and the printing ink runs into the soap body with blurring the printed pattern. This direct printing is not suitable for multi-color printing with the limit of two colors at most. Further, the printed portion is easily dissolved off during the use of soap which is the same as the former case. Still further, when the printing is unsatisfactory, the printed surface layer must be scraped off which increases the production cost.
In the case that an adhesive sheet is applied to the surface of soap, the multi-color printing is possible and the appearance of finished pattern is good. It is, however, impossible to print patterns on a quite thin sheet, so that the sheet that is applied to the surface of soap naturally becomes thick. Accordingly, raised sholder portions are inevitably formed on the surfaces of soaps which cause uncomfortable feeling for the users of the soaps. In addition, the adhesive strength of printed sheet relative to soap is quite low due to the property of the soap itself and the sheet is liable to be peeled off during the use. Furthermore, the above-mentioned disadvantage that the printed pattern falls off and vanishes cannot yet be eliminated. Even when a paraffin protective layer is applied on the surface of the adhesive pattern sheet, the same is caused to occur.